Military

DATE=10/15/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE= AZERBAIJAN VOTE (L-UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-308620

BYLINE= LISA MCADAMS

DATELINE= MOSCOW

CONTENT=

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INTRO: Enough voters turned up at the ballot boxes by mid-day for the authorities in Azerbaijan to declare the country's presidential election valid. The son of outgoing President Heydar Aliyev is widely expected to win the contest, which the opposition says was marred from the start. V-O-A's Lisa McAdams in Moscow has details.

TEXT: Azerbaijan's Central Election Commission declared the vote valid by mid-day, saying that more than 30-percent of the country's more than four-million registered voters, or more than the legal minimum, had cast their ballots.

The outgoing resident, Heidar Aliyev, cast his ballot from his hospital bed in the United States, where he is being treated for heart and kidney trouble.

His son, Ilhan Aliyev, who currently serves as Azerbaijan's prime minister, has promised stability and a continuation of his father's policies, if elected. He faces seven challengers, but none is seen likely to seriously threaten his front-runner status.

Under Azerbaijan's election law, a candidate must secure more than 50-percent of the vote to win. If no candidate achieves that on Wednesday, there will be a second round of voting.

More than one-thousand international observers are in Azerbaijan to monitor the election. Azerbaijan has a poor record of transparency in past elections, but the rights groups made no immediate characterization of Wednesday's vote.

But Azerbaijan's political opposition claims there was widespread fraud in the run-up to the election, and vowed to contest the result at the first sign of irregularities at voting booths.

Russian news reports say that an election observer from an opposition party set himself on fire, after election officials allegedly refused to accept a complaint that people were casting multiple ballots. According to the reports, the observer is in police custody in serious condition, while the polling station had to be closed due to the fire.

Azerbaijan's prime minister and the election chief earlier denied any impropriety, pledging to hold a free and fair election.

The election in Azerbaijan, which has large oil reserves, is being followed closely by officials in the United States, Russia and other nations in the region. (SIGNED)

NEB/LAM/MAR/RAE/KBK